MAMMALIA. GLIRES. Marmot. 25-3? 



Inhabits Ruffia and Poland. — This fpecies is larger, ftronger, and more mifchievous, than the Zifel.' 

 The head is thick, with fhort rounded ears ; the body is flender, and covered with fhort, foft fur ; 

 the tail is of a moderate fize •, the fore-teeth are very large, and project much from the mouth, the 

 under ones being much longer than the upper ; the feet are all divided into five toes, armed with 

 crooked claws; the body is about the fize of a Squirrel, and in manners and difpofitions it refembles 

 the Zifel. It bites cruelly, and eats voracioufly of grains, fruits, and pot herbs, laying up magazines 

 of provifions in its burrows, where it paries the winter. 



Thefe three laft defcribed animals, the Souflik, Zifel, and Zemni, are all fuppofed to be of the 

 fame fpecies by Dr Gmelin, and are included under one defcription, as follows, Syft. nat. ed. Gmel. i. 

 p. 144. n. 6. ; but, on the authority of Buffon and Pennant, they are feparated in this edition. — T. 



Arctomys Citillus, of a variable colour, having a hairy tail, and no external ears. Schreber, iv. 

 746. t. ccxi. A. B. — Mus citillus, of a variable colour, having a convex head, no external ear's, and 

 a fhort hairy tail. Pallas Glir. 76. 1 19. t. vi. vii. B. ; and Nov. com. Petrop. xiv. 549. t. 21. f. 1. 



2. Moufe, of an afh colour, having no external ears, and a fhort tail. Syft. nat. ed. xii. i. 80. 



n. 4. — Mus Sufiica. Guldenftaedt, Nov. com. Petrop. xiv. 389. t. 7. — Mus Noricus, f. Citillus. 

 Agric. Subt. 485. Gefn. quad. 83.5. Raj. quad. 220. Rzacz. Pol. 235. D J . auct. 327. Schwenkf. 

 Sil. 86. Aldrovand. dig. 436. Erxleb. mam. 366. — Cuniculus germanicus, or German Coney, of 

 a grey colour, having a tail, but no external ears. BrifT. quad. 147. n. 6. — Orientalifcher Hamfter, 

 or-Oriental Hamfter. S. G. Gmelin, It. 30. t. 5. — Cafan Marmot, Earlefs Marmot, and Podolian 

 Marmot. Penn. fynopf. of quad. p. 273. n. 201. and n. 203. t. 25. f. 1 — Zifel, and Souflic. Buffi 

 hift. nat. loc. cit. ... 



Inhabits the fouthern parts of Ruffia as far as Kamtfchatka, and the iflands between Afia and Ame- 

 rica; in Perfia and China, and is now rarely found in the reft of Europe. —Dwells in open, high, dry; 

 and uncultivated places, preferring turfy and loamy foils, near the high roads, and never frequents 

 bogs or woods. Each individual has its feparate burrow, in which, for provifion in the beginning and 

 end of winter, it lays up magazines of grain, tender vegetables, and berries; fometimes, though rare- 

 ly, the carcafles of mice and fmall birds are added ; in the middle of winter it lies torpid during the 

 greateftfe verity of the froft ; the burrows of the females are dug deeper than thofe of the males: 

 From the very beginning of fpring, as foon as the weather becomes mild, they go out in the day 

 time in queft of food, which they eat fitting on their haunches, carrying it in their fore paws to the 

 mouth. The male is very eafily tamed, but the female is fiercer, more given to bite, and is lefs eafily 

 made- tame ; fhe goes between three and four weeks with young, and brings forth from three to eight 

 young ones about the beginning of May. The fur is very good in the fpring, and the fiefh is rec- 

 koned tolerable... They are preyed on by polecats, weafels, hawks, carrion-crows, and cranes. . 



This animal varies confiderably both in fize and colour, being fometimes as large as the Common 

 Marmot; and fometimes net larger than the Water Rat : In general the colour is of a yellowifh aih 

 on the upper parts, and dirty white on the belly * ; fometimes it is variegated either with waves or 

 fmall fpots of white f ; fome are white on the upper parts, and waved with tawny or yellow, being 

 pale yellow- on the lower parts of the body, and having a longifh tail, with fhed hair like that of a -.-. 



Squirrel 5; 



*■ This uniform variety is evidently the Zifel of Buffon T. 



t The variety which is fpotted with white is the Souflik of Buffon,— -T,- 



